Happy 20th Birthday Link!

Over the years Link has saved Hyrule countless times from the dark depths of monochromatic Game & Watch titles all the way to the living cartoon world of the Wind Waker. A hero deserves to get some sort of reward for all of his efforts. Maybe throw his visage on baseball cap or endorse insurance. While Link has never gone that far, he has his own (large) share of Link goods. After 20 years of selling this stuff he’s got to have 999 rupees saved up. Here’s a look at some of the Legend of Zelda merchandise released over the years.

Bar Sign

This probably isn’t “official” Legend of Zelda merchandise, but it could be a killer addition to a game room or bar. After you hang the sign up you can make custom drinks like red potion (Aftershock and Redbull) or blue potion (Hypnotiq, triple sec, soda water on crushed ice). Warning: drinks might not actually refill life.

Comics

In the eighties Link had a couple of comics featured in Nintendo Power magazine. Eventually Nintendo released a bunch of these in bound comic collections called Nintendo Comics System. Valiant released these comics in 1991, but they weren’t a huge success. Only five issues were released before the series was canned. Because of the limited run, finding all five volumes in mint condition is almost as hard as finding that last heart container.

TV show

Here’s a Link collectable that’s as easy to get as stepping into your local DVD retailer. The DVD collection features all of the episodes of The Legend of Zelda cartoon, which was originally shown as part of the Super Mario Brothers Super Show. If you haven’t watched it in the past it might not be as interesting. The episodes chronicle a teenage Link, who’s not exactly a gallant hero. Instead Link ends up being a bratty kid who’s trying to get a kiss from Zelda.

Cereal

Every hero needs to begin his day with a big breakfast and Link is no exception. Instead of chowing down on eggs and bacon Link would rather have a bowl of Berry cereal. The Nintendo cereal system had two separate bags of cereal, fruity for Mario and Berry for Link. If you feel like you’ve missed out you haven’t. The cereal didn’t have any prizes aside from Nintendo tips and it tasted awful. Lon Lon Milk not included.

Action figures

The USA got a couple of different sets of Legend of Zelda action figures. One set was released by Nintendo Power and featured Link from the Ocarina of Time. Later on another set was released by Epoch toys for Majora Mask. This set featured a younger Link with Epona. There’s even a three pack with Link, Princess Zelda and Gannondorf floating around on eBay. However, after the Nintendo 64 era no more figures were released in the USA. Before you pony up dough on these goodies you may want to wait until after the Twilight Princess. It’s likely that Nintendo will release some new toys to celebrate this game.

Game Watch

While cell phone games are more advanced than this toy, the Zelda Game Watch kept many elementary school kids from paying attention during history class. Instead they were focusing on moving around a tiny Link through dungeons. All you would do is move Link from one edge of the screen to the next and collect keys along the way to face a dragon at the end.

T-Shirts

If there’s one steady stream of revenue for the Hyrule hero it is apparel. Shirts started in the 80’s that just featured Link and a logo on a t-shirt. Now Hot Topic jumped in on the action. They released T-shirts with slogans like “Legend at Work” and “Pure Gold” featuring a gold NES cart. If you drop by there you can also get a bunch of vintage Legend of Zelda T-shirts too.

Barcode Battler cards

In the SNES or should we say Super Famicom days there was a game called Barcode Battler where gamers could take barcodes from anything to make monsters and battle them. The whole system had a Pokemon level craze in Japan, but it never made it over to the USA. Nintendo released a limited edition set of Link barcode cards where you could summon Link and Zelda in the game. You could also equip them with tools like the hookshot or boomerang. Cool stuff, even though it’s largely useless without the game, barcode battler and a Super Famicom.

Board Game

Say you’re trapped in the middle of the woods on a family retreat, your DS is out of power and you just have to play Legend of Zelda. Then grab the family and get ready to play the Legend of Zelda board game. Travel through the world of Hyrule with the help of dice and race through a couple of dungeons. The game even included cardboard heart pieces, which were probably lost in ten minutes.

Limited Edition Game Boy Advance SP

One of the coolest pieces of Legend of Zelda memorabilia was a European exclusive. It’s a gold Game Boy Advance SP with a triforce logo on the top. The system was released in 2004 with the Minish Cap in a package. Since the console was released outside of the USA and in limited quantities which fans snatched up this can be a hard item to come by.